Beer Trading & Beer Karma

I think part of it is saving noobs from themselves. Half the bad trader alerts over the last few months have been from noob-on-noob violence...

 

I've been here since 2006, and I can tell you it's not something that they've just recently taken interest in.

 

I have been a member for a little over a year (Feb 2012 join date) and have a grand total of 45 beer karma points. I have completed around 15 trades without any problems. I would hate to be excluded from the ISO/FT section of the forum because I am not a big poster. I spend most of my time reading on the site and rarely posting, and don't feel as though my palate is "refined enough" to be posting reviews etc.

I would love to see a combination of "time served" and/or beer karma points to determine eligibility.

 

If this includes the It Forward section and the General/ Help section, then I would be against it. I understand not letting noobs make ISO/ FT posts, but BIFs are a great way to learn how to pack, how to stalk your target and see what they would like and how to wreck porches. I think they're a very good way to ease your way into the trading game. And I see no reason why noobs shouldn't be able to post in the General/Help section. This site is full of experienced traders who could help out noobs trading. And I also echo the sentiment to let noobs peruse the whole forum. It's a great way to gauge values so you don't make an ass out of yourself before you post. And to answer the original question, I'd say 250 karma points. I'm a 2012 join date with no reviews (because I suck at writing them), about 160 hads and 200 posts. And I've only recently become comfortable enough to post in the ISO/ FT forum. If I was all of a sudden not allowed to post a trade, I'd be perturbed to say the least.

 

I don't understand your point. Is this not the first time they are trying to regulate who trades here on BA? As far as I can tell, they offer up the forum, and leave it up to the users for the most part. They clearly state a 'trade at your own risk' policy, and don't maintain any sort of bad trader list. They leave that up to the users.

 

See post above.

 

Time to get serious.

The "problems" found in the ISO:FT forums are here to stay. There is no simple solution. (Except for maybe the one I asked about here): http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/beer-trading-beer-karma.88434/page-2#post-1292076

No down-and-dirty karma-induced rule will eliminate:

• The posting of lopsided ISO:FT posts
• Threadshitting
• Bad traders being bad traders

 

My $.02......

I like the idea of a threshold that one must cross to allow them to post ISO:FT. I'm a 2012er and I had to go through it.

However, I think the big issue that most people have with this part of BA is how ugly these trading forums can get. It's ugly when someone throws out lowball offers. It's ugly when someone is taken advantage of. It's ugly when someone's thread is shit on every time they post (I'm looking at you joel66). And it's ugly when we lose sight of what this section is for.

Do we solve these issues by building larger barriers? I don't think so. Most of the people that stir up confrontation and threadshit, are BAs with high Beer Karma and a standing in the community. Large barriers won't keep them out, but it will keep them in.

I think the solution may be a beer-trading moderator. Not just someone that goes around and deletes every thread that hints at trading mead or bourbon, but someone to truly MODERATE this area. I realize that this is easy for me to say, but that's what this discussion is for!

This section needs a serious attitude adjustment; we all know this. Encourage constructive feedback and strongly discourage threadshitting.


Cheers

 

There would still be rules?

 

A boy can dream. (Or become a moderator? Whaddya say?)

 

Sub forum called the thunderdome..

 

Not bashing here, but people reporting posts seems to be a steady trend and this leads to instantaneous post deletion and inevitable warnings. For those who post regularly this leads to much aggravation. I have limited my recent posting on the forum on the account that I kept getting warnings, even for things that would be considered "arguing" rather than being a troll or blatantly offensive. The prospect of paying to support this site and then to find myself "done/no refunds" after somebody reports a post is a rather bleak beeradvocate in my mind. When it is a totally free service I understand that you guys are the bosses and can do as you please. I have no problem paying a premium to help the site continue its growth seeing as I am on here so much, but when I put down a bit of money I hope to get a bit more respect and understanding as a member.

In terms of karma I am for a certain amount for trade privileges. Yes there are those who have been here for many years who have a solid trade history but a low karma score. But really how hard is it to rack up 50-100 points? Add some hads and review your local shops, it can be accomplished in a day or two I bet. It shows that you dedicate some time into the site and it forces you to spend a little time on the forum to at least learn the way things work.

 

I can only like this once, but I would like to like it more

 

To me, those who are against having to earn privileges have the same attitude as the folks who don't want to travel to releases, but want access to the beer, who travel to releases but don't get there early enough and complain that there weren't enough bottles, who don't want to go to stores when low bottle count beers are available and complain there aren't enough for them, etc., etc., the same entitlement syndrome.

Just 2 questions, and anyone who has answered that it isn't fair to have to earn certain privileges on this site please feel free to answer.

1.Why do you feel it is unfair to be required to participate in this free site to gain certain privileges of this free site?
2. Do you really feel it is so hard to do those contributive things necessary, and, specifically, what do you think is hard about doing them?

 

Many of the people posting in this thread lean toward threadshitting by vets being more of a problem than people that rip others off for actual $ and beer or have to be shamed to ship... That's the new BA.

Other threads are full of supporters of these types of people. "I've had nothing but good experiences with so and so. They must be a good trader..."

Much of the "threadshitting" in the trade forum is people calling out those that are trying to take advantage of others or have absolutely no idea what they are doing in the first place because they did not take the time to give a shit and learn.

I still do not see how this is a bad thing...

Look at how many ISO:FT posts even in the past week alone start out, " I saw this get done once" or "I know it's a long shot, but"....

Don't take advantage of others... if you would not make the trade the other way, do not offer it.
There is ( or was, can't find it right now ) a lengthy thread discussing this BS still at the top of the forum yet people choose to ignore it. I hope it was not removed.

I still rarely see reasonable trade requests get threadshit at all. ( unless of course the poster goes out of their way to do things that endear the community to him or her. ) See Adamjackson types.

 

I think 99% of the problems would end today if you banned the trade of BVDL.

But seriously, I've had several people tell me that ISO:FT is supposed to operate like a free market with zero interference from Mods and the Founders. Wouldn't this be seen as greater regulation? Besides, how will this stop bad trade threads? I've seen members with a lot of karma post asinine trades, just as noobs like myself have.

But if you really want to help out trades and traders, I can think of two ways to help:
1. You should implement an iTrader system so feedback can be officially tracked. It would give us a legitimate way to decide if the trader was trying to eff us. Looks something like this:


2. Have full time ISO:FT mods hand out vacations to users that don't follow the trading guidelines.

IMO, you should be thankful for the increased site traffic instead of trying to dissuade people from posting on BA, right? What forum gets visited the most during the day? I would think it's beer trading, but I could be wrong.

I'm a 2012er though, so my opinion probably doesn't matter much.

This right here. Conversation over.